Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.18/ Trend, A.Badalova /
Construction prospects for the Trans-Caspian pipeline are high, Head of Energy Policy Center at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexei Khaitun believes.
"If to proceed from purely geopolitical reasons, sooner or later, the pipeline will be constructed," Khaitun told Trend over telephone.
He said the concept of the project is quite relevant at present, given availability of great gas reserves in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Trans-Caspian gas pipeline with length of about 300 kilometres will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor.
The negotiations between Turkmenistan and the EU and other countries on the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline have been held since the late 1990s.
In September, 2011 the EU Council gave a mandate for the negotiations between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to build the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.
The Trans-Caspian pipeline was one of the topics of negotiations between senior representatives of the energy sector of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the EU, which took place earlier this month in Ashgabat.
Khaitun does not also rule out the possibility of transportation of the Turkmen gas via the planned Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP).
He said against a background of Russian Gazprom's problems, in particular, filing an antimonopoly case in Europe against it, Turkmenistan could get an independent access to the European market through the pipeline.
However, according to Khaitun, uncertain status of the Caspian Sea remains an obstacle to the implementation of the Trans-Caspian pipeline project. However, according to Khaitun, sooner or later this issue will be addressed.